There and Back

It was nice to be able to visit friends both coming and going to and from the beach. We saw old friends and their dogs. On the way we stopped in Olympia and had five black dogs altogether! Going to the beach I was lucky to have perfect driving weather with blue skies and no rain or snow. Coming home was a different story. Snoqualmie Pass was closed for avalanche control and opened shortly after I got there. Most cars had to put on chains. Lucky me with my AWD and traction tires, I could skip that tiresome step. Still, the going was slow with bumper to bumper traffic all the way over. A drive that normally takes half an hour took two hours! I was greatly relieved to arrive in Cle Elum and take a break. Blewett Pass was not in bad shape – just compact snow but folks were driving too fast or too slow and it took longer than usual too. What a relief to arrive at Kim’s house. The next day, it was snowing hard in the Wenatchee valley and we enjoyed a walk in the orchard before I left. It weather improved as I got farther north and across the Columbia for the last time. Sadly there was a terrible accident and the highway was closed for three hours and I had to backtrack and take a longer detour through still another snow storm. I can’t tell you how good it felt to get home. The dogs were amazingly patient with all that car time.

A bad picture taken from a moving car but compare it to the photos from the return trip.